


Lone Wolf No More

by phoenixreal



Series: Bleach Alpha/Beta and MPreg Fics [3]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Alpha/Beta, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Kidnapping, Knotting, M/M, Mental Instability, Mental rape, Mpreg, Public Humiliation, Rape, Seme Starrk, Sexual Abuse, Sexual Torture, Soulmates, Torture, Uke Ichigo, beta ichigo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-19
Updated: 2016-11-21
Packaged: 2018-01-11 13:27:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1173599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenixreal/pseuds/phoenixreal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Canon Divergent Post Fake Karakura Town Arc</p><p>Ichigo has adjusted to having no power. Then, he simply stops. No one understands, and a human diagnosis that is hard to comprehend is given to his father. When he walks through a garganta, no one is sure what happened. In Hueco Mundo, a truly alone Primera Espada wishes for something to change. Then, he hears something he doesn't expect. A Human scream.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Loneliness that Crushes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this is being completely rewritten. I just wasn't feeling the way it was before. I might use that material elsewhere in another story, but this feels right.

** **

* * *

 

 

 

 

 [Hueco Mundo]

The dream was as always something that made him wake up with an ache inside him that was bone deep and nearly crushed him. He sat alone on an overlook and watched the hollows below him mill about. There was a good twenty-meter space around him where nothing came close to him. Somewhat further out, there were a few hollows that had died trying to encroach on his small territory. The world of Hueco Mundo had moved on since Aizen’s defeat. And Coyote Starrk was lonelier than ever for he no longer had Lilynette to ease his pain.

Lilynette had died in the fight with the Shinigami, and he almost had. It was only by sheer luck that he had managed to retreat through a garganta he opened. The only reason he hadn’t been attacked by roaming hollows in Hueco Mundo had been because of his sheer reiatsu that kept them at bay. Even injured, he exuded enough energy to crush them. He’d managed to recover, his power returning slowly, and including the power he had given Lilynette. He found he still had his resurrection, but he missed Lillynette’s banter and companionship.

That was the dream, of course. It was always the dream. Lillynette’s presence would comfort him and they would talk, and everything felt less lonely. But she was gone. He rubbed his hands over his face, fingers dancing along the mask fragment. He looked down into the valley he sat above. He smelled the sweet scent from a beta hollow that were near him. His instincts were crying out for him to find a mate, but he knew better. He had never could find a mate that he didn’t destroy by his mere presence. He’d sensed more than one vasto lorde classed hollow nearby, and at least two packs of the hollows left over from Aizen’s days, but even they were not near his sheer power. He sighed deeply and wished that he would end his lonely existence one way or another.

Upon returning to Hueco Mundo, Starrk had found things in chaos. Most of the Espada were dead, and those that weren’t, were trying to maintain some semblance of control. The ruins of Las Noches had become nothing but a dangerous place for any but the strongest among Hueco Mundo’s residents. Old power left the place a magnet for the power hungry. There was a nest of a particular hollow that even Starrk avoided inside the bowels of that place. It was ancient, and undying, and even before he became an Arrancar, he knew their scent. There had been many Arrancar set free onto the sands of Hueco Mundo that had no purpose any longer except to use their strength to try and control some part of the land. Starrk knew that Tier Harribel and her fraccion had managed to get back as well, and had carved out a small part of a canyon for their use. The last he had heard, Grimmjow had joined her in a partnership of a type.

He had been about to lay back against his rock when he heard a scream. It wasn’t a hollow scream, though. It was…human?

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

[Karakura Town]

The first indication that something was off with Ichigo was that he stopped talking, then slowly, he simply stopped altogether. It had been over two years since he’d given up his power, and life, for the most part, and he had moved on. At least, that’s what outside appearances said. That’s what everyone thought. He had been doing well, attending school, becoming a doctor. He met his friends with smiles and laughter, though, and those that knew him were well aware of how fake those things were to the boy.

Then, Ichigo just stopped communicating. Orihime noticed first, when she would talk to him he’d stare at her and refuse to speak. For a while, they just thought he was going through a rough period again. He’d started the university levels, and was doing as well as he always had in high school. Then, though, he stopped going to school at all. He would often be found sitting and staring into space in his room, unmoving for hours on end.

Isshin sat at Urahara’s not long after he stopped leaving the house for school. “I don’t understand what’s happening to him,” he said with a sigh as he looked at his old friend.

Urahara shook his head. “He hasn’t been by lately. I’m not sure what is going on with him.”

“I’m worried, he doesn’t talk, and he barely leaves his room. And I don’t know what to do about it,” Isshin sipped his tea as he looked around the room. “Can you come see him?”

“I can try. Have you tried letting Karin or Yuzu talk to him?”

Isshin nodded. “He doesn’t even act like they’re in the same room with him. It is disconcerting.”

“This is a human issue, right? There’s no reiatsu present still?” Urahara asked, hoping that something wasn’t happening that they hadn’t anticipated.

Isshin shook his head. “None. I’ve checked every way I know how, and I’ve had Rukia do the same. I just…I know what to do with dangers from hollows and Soul Society, but this sort of thing…”

Urahara agreed and sometime later he knocked on Ichigo’s door. There was no answer, so he went into the room, announcing himself as he entered.

Ichigo looked up from where he was sitting on his bed. He wasn’t doing anything at all, just sitting there, seemingly staring into space. He tilted his head to the side and frowned at Urahara.

“Kurosaki-kun, I wanted to check on you,” Urahara said as he leaned against the doorframe. “I haven’t seen you come by the shoten, and I wanted to find out if all was well with you.”

Ichigo was silent for a long time and then shrugged. “I’m fine,” he said finally and flopped back on his bed. Urahara stood there for a long moment in confusion. That was perhaps one of the oddest reactions he’d seen from Ichigo in all his days knowing him.

“Are you sure? Your father is concerned with your lack of school attendance when you had been doing so well…” Urahara said as he approached.

Ichigo shrugged and for a second, Urahara thought he saw Ichigo’s expression change to one of fear but then it returned to the mask of indifference. “Just fine,” he muttered and rolled over on the bed to face the wall.

Urahara reached out his senses and felt…nothing. He nodded and headed out of the room.

Ichigo, though, was screaming, but no one could hear it because it was only in his own head. It had been like this for months on end. He had no control of himself at all. His body moved and did things but he had no idea why or how. He’d been out walking after dark one night almost six months before, and he’d felt like someone was watching him. He remembered something slamming into him and then everything was black. The next he saw he was watching from his eyes…but he was a passenger in his own body. He heard his voice now and then, but never many words. He felt as though someone was trying to pull information from his memories, and he tried to stop them. The process was painful, and he would eventually give up and let whoever it was have his thoughts and memories. Only the surface though, and he eventually figured out how to let go of memories so whatever it was thought it had found them. He desperately tried to keep his past as a Shinigami away from it. He had no idea why it was important, but he felt like that would be a mistake.

He was frantic to get this torment to end, but he couldn’t even tell someone that something was wrong. There was no response from whoever, or whatever, was controlling his body. He just wanted to be in control again. That was all. He wanted help, but he couldn’t figure out how to tell them he wanted it.

After Urahara left, his body stood and went into the bathroom. He stood in front of the mirror and watched himself. He had been trying to force control for the last month or two. He’d saved his strength for nearly two weeks now and he wanted to see if he couldn’t either get their attention or end this. Either was sufficient. At least if he died, he would get to Soul Society again. This wasn’t how he wanted to do it, but anything to stop this. Anything. Finally, he managed all his strength and forced one hand under his control. He only had moments as he grabbed a pair of scissors from the medicine cabinet shelf and flicked them open and quickly sliced open his opposite arm. It was a deep cut, and blood began spurting everywhere. Then, his control was gone and he watched as his hand went over the damage and for the first time, Ichigo sensed emotion not his own.

It was confusion. Then it turned to anger, and then rage.

He felt his body become dizzy and he moved toward the door, knocking a jar to the ground with a crash. He heard his father yelling as he grabbed the door and then looked to see his father’s face. He looked at him and struggled against the consciousness that was trying to push him back.

“Help…me…” Ichigo choked out as he fell forward into Isshin’s arms. Whatever was controlling him weakened enough that he was able to speak, just for a second. He hoped that his father realized that there was more going on than what he could see.

He woke in the hospital; a psych ward, he realized as he felt his body sit up on the bed. Of course, this was a human issue to his father. There was no way his father could know anything else. He picked up his arm and looked at the bandage. His fingers plucked the bandage off to find the rough cut had been sutured with seven stitches. Then, Ichigo realized that whatever was controlling his body was angry, truly angry, and he realized that he would regret his cry for help. A horrible rage was building, and Ichigo was scared because he couldn’t stop whatever this was.

He stood and moved to the two-way mirror and stared at his reflection and Ichigo screamed as the entity began ripping through every memory in his mind. This time, it felt like claws scraping down into the heart of him and tearing at his soul. This wasn’t the gentle curious tugs at his memories around the edges, this was cutting him open and laying everything bare. The pain was like nothing he’d ever felt and there was no pause, no end. He screamed and flailed but it was no good. He couldn’t get away from the pain searing through him as each memory was touched, tampered with, and warped. He felt helpless, alone, and couldn’t breathe. He just wanted to die, just die, as he saw everything torn from his grasp, whatever this was delving into the deepest corners of his being. His mother, his sisters, Rukia, Renji, Aizen, everything was flooding up and drowning him.

Of course, outside, there was nothing. Two weeks passed and he was released into his father’s care with a diagnosis of schizophrenia with catatonic features, provisionally, as they waited for testing to come back on other causes. Medications were prescribed and given. He didn’t speak, and went through the motions to get out of the psychiatric facility.

In those two weeks, Ichigo’s torment was unending. The entity was enraged, and each moment the body was awake, it tormented Ichigo’s soul and ripped at the loose threads that began to fray. Self-doubt, anger, pity, self-loathing, it all started unraveling. Ichigo began seeing this thing that had control of him as some sort of twisted version of himself. While the body rested, he tried to retain his very sanity. If he ever did get control of his own body again, it would be a miracle if he was still functional at this rate.

Isshin sat at Urahara’s table again and wondered what he’d done wrong after those two weeks. He had no idea the hell his son was enduring right before his very eyes.

“Isshin, this may have nothing to do with the powers or with anything of our worlds, you know. Sometimes, people his age develop these disorders,” Urahara said with a sigh. “You know this.”

“It isn’t my son anymore,” Isshin said quietly. “I…I don’t know that person.”

They sat for a long time in silence until Isshin went home. He found that Ichigo was standing outside staring into the distance. Nothing much had changed, and now that the doctors had diagnosed him, he wished he’d seen it sooner. He knew what catatonia looked like, but it was so hard to see in his own child. He sighed and put his hand on Ichigo’s shoulder.

Ichigo turned and looked at him suddenly and smiled. “Ichigo loves you a great deal. But it’s time for us to take him away,” he said in a strange tone Isshin had never heard to Ichigo’s voice.

Isshin pulled his hand back and frowned. “What does that mean?”

Ichigo stepped forward, flicking his wrist and to Isshin’s shock a garganta opened. Ichigo turned back. “He resisted much. Fascinating. Strong soul, our soul. Consuming from the inside out is so much more satisfying. Especially once we take him home and activate his power again. The soul of a Shinigami is a rare delicacy for us indeed.”

Ichigo’s eyes glowed red for a moment, then he stepped into the garganta and it snapped closed.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Ichigo screamed, pushing him away from the memories that he knew might mean something…but it didn’t matter. He tried to hold on and the memory was ripped from him. He’d tried so hard to hide this memory, mostly because it had something to do with the nature of his hollow. He was afraid what the knowledge would do for whatever had him. After he stepped through the garganta, though, Ichigo couldn’t stop him from seeing it.

_He was sweating again.  Eleven seconds.  He had to get more than eleven seconds…  He didn’t have time as the mask shattered again.  He inwardly cursed as Hiyori was pressing him again.  Harder now, he had to get this under control or he would be of no use in the coming battles.  And if he didn’t, he was going to get another flip-flop to the head.  He went tumbling again, and got to his feet and set to go again…_

_“Oi, enough,” yelled Shinji.  “Come on, break for a while, you two.”_

_Hiyori agreed and sighed as they left the warehouse.  “I want to go check on something with getabishi,” Ichigo said with a sigh.  “So, I’ll meet you back here in an hour?”_

_“Got it,” the two Vizard said with a wave._

_Ichigo flashed away, because there was something bugging him.  A lot.  Ever since he managed to subdue the inner hollow, something had been niggling at the back of his mind.  Something felt…wrong.  He entered the shoten and down to the basement area where he sensed Urahara, Chad and Renji were._

_“Getabishi!” he called out and the man came over to him._

_He smiled and snapped his fan open.  “Yare, yare, what can I do, Ichigo-san?”_

_“Can we talk about something…upstairs?” he asked, frowning._

_For a second, he swore Urahara looked confused.  But he nodded and they headed back upstairs and he offered him tea.  “So, what is it?”_

_Ichigo swallowed.  “Since…since I got him under control, I’ve been feeling…weird.  Not just with the mask, but all the time…” he said slowly, sipping the tea._

_Urahara tipped his head to the side.  “How so?”_

_“Like…something’s missing.  Something huge is just…not there.  It…it isn’t like I’ve lost anything, just something is not there that I desperately need and I don’t know what it is…” he said thoughtfully.  “Something that has never been there, but it was only once the hollow surfaced and I got some sort of control that I realized it.”_

_Urahara looked thoughtful.  “It would be impossible…” he muttered finally._

_“What?” Ichigo asked._

_“Hollows are like animals, pure, base instincts.  Well one of those is the consume, another is to procreate, and while they don’t do this like living beings, I’ve seen more sentient hollows take mates for short periods or lifetimes, which is often until one is devoured by another hollow.  But I’ve never seen one of the Vizard have these compulsions.  Perhaps…perhaps your hollow is stronger than the others…” he said thoughtfully._

_Ichigo sat for a moment.  “Well, I’ll go back to the warehouse then, figure this out later.  It isn’t causing any problems…I just didn’t know if it was related to being a Vizard…and well it is kinda embarrassing to tell Shinji and his bunch this kind of stuff.”_

_Urahara gave him a rare, genuine smile.  “Well, I am honored; now, get back, Ichigo-san before Hiyori-san plants her flip flop where it is not desired…”_

_Ichigo smiled and left.  He always felt a bit better after talking to Urahara, even if he was now a bit more worried about what was happening._

Ichigo heard his own voice chuckle as he walked through the sands of Hueco Mundo. “So that’s it, is it?” he said to himself. “But we need to release that sweet power so we might have our meal,” Ichigo muttered. Once again, everything began to twist painfully and horribly as whatever this was began rifling in the depths of Ichigo’s soul that were not meant to be felt by anyone save himself. The pain was excruciating, and if it had been physical, Ichigo knew his human body would have expired already. As it pushed further and further into Ichigo’s soul, it seemed to be tearing at his very core. Finally, with a guttural scream, it pulled Ichigo’s power free.

They hadn’t counted on how much power Ichigo carried. The body that the entity had taken over was twisting and moving without it doing so. It let out a hollow scream as a cascading white color flowed over Ichigo’s body.

 _What?_ The parasitic hollow asked as more than a Shinigami came to be in the body he inhabited with intent to devour.

It had been accidental that the creature had found itself in the human world. It had searched and latched onto the closest thing to a hollow signature it could find, for the sweet reishi would empower them. They had found instead a human Shinigami that had his power drained, and it was the first time they would have the chance to devour the soul of a Shinigami. It would be a treat, even if their ambient reishi wasn’t as strong as the hollows. They didn’t expect a vasto lorde hollow to begin squeezing the very life from within the very soul he was inhabiting. White hands with long black nails clutched a white, wormlike creature that writhed and squirmed in those hands. The thing screamed and twisted, but the black nailed white hands squeezed and squeezed.

“How dare you?” it hissed at him. “How dare you do this to my King?” the white faced creature said with a flick of a forked tongue. “Do you know what you’ve done? Do you have any idea? You’ve awakened a sleeping beast…and now you die…” he growled and all the happened was there was an audible pop, and Ichigo’s body slumped to the ground.

In the distance, there was a communal scream as the hive lost one of their number. They wouldn’t let such a prize go this easily, though, as from the writhing mass, a small worm that looked very much like the one Shiro had destroyed headed away from the ruins of Las Noches. They would have that power and continue to grow their colony until they could devour all of Hueco Mundo.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

“Shiro?” the black clad Zangetsu said as Shiro lay on the water logged building. “You are awake.”

“Yeah, so are you. We…we’re in trouble…” he said as he looked at Zangetsu.

“What happened?” Zangetsu asked.

“That hollow…it fucked his head up major. But worse than that is what is about to start.”

“What is that?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

“I…I had to do more than I should have…he’s…he’s more hollow than he was…I’m so sorry…” he said with a heavy sigh. “The thing, it was powerful. It had fed off his latent power for months the hollow powers mostly…and it turned him more like me and less like him…”

“It triggered the heat.”

“I didn’t know we were a beta…but I guess it makes sense, he’s too fucking protective to be an alpha,” he muttered and sighed. “They’re coming. I can feel them. They’re going to kill him, and I’m so weak I can’t do anything…”

“They won’t kill a valuable beta,” Zangetsu said as they both heard the reverberating hollow calls outside them.

“If they’re Arrancar, maybe not. But if we’re found by a pack of adjunca…” he said as he found he couldn’t even sit up. “Don’t let my king die,” he said and looked at Zangetsu for a moment before his eyes closed.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Ichigo gasped as he came awake, lying in the sand, wearing a different version of his shihakuso than he used to have. He sat up slowly and realized that it was mostly the same, but the jacket was tight fitting and there were gloves that covered his hands from the sleeves. He felt weird though. His head was pounding and he was hearing and seeing things that he couldn’t be seeing or hearing. He stood up slowly, nearly falling as he did so. Someone caught him though. He gasped and looked up to see…an Arrancar?

“Well, well, what do we have here?” he said as Ichigo looked around him to see he was surrounded. There had to be ten of them, all Arrancar by the feel, it seemed. They were ones he’d never seen before but then it wasn’t like he’d seen every Arrancar in Las Noches.

“Isn’t that the Shinigami that Aizen had a hard on for?” one of the others said as he moved up and grabbed him by the face. He had a wide bone fragment over the top of his head that looked like some sort of helmet.

Ichigo’s head was spinning madly. He could barely stand and he didn’t know why. Everything was wrong. “How…how did I get here…” he whispered finally.

“Aw, the poor thing doesn’t know how he got here…” someone said and they all laughed.

Why was he so weak? He had no idea but he wanted them to just let go of him. He tried to move but something was wrong. Not only was his head a mess, but his body was hot and flushed with feelings he didn’t understand. If he had seen himself, he would have noticed the thick black markings that had started at the black circle on his chest and expanded over his shoulders and around his ribs. He couldn’t see the red streaks that had appeared down his cheeks that were like the ones that were on his Vizard mask. He certainly hadn’t realized there was a mask fragment around his neck that very nearly looked like a white collar of bone.  

“What should we do with him? He smells sweet,” one of them said and Ichigo couldn’t focus on them.

“He’s a beta, nice,” another voice. “Smells ripe…”

The one holding him snorted. “Yeah, let’s get him back to the camp. I’m sure we can all get a turn with him before the night’s over and see if we can’t get a kit outta him…”

“Kit?” Ichigo muttered and tried to pull away. “What…what’s happening…”

Ichigo felt himself being picked up into a pair of arms and now he could see the one that had come up behind him. He was tall with what looked like tusks on either side of his jaw. He was grinning at him. “What’s happening? You’re a beta, that’s what. And after Aizen created massive numbers of us alpha Arrancar, that’s something in high demand. Especially Arrancar betas.”

He took off in a sonido and soon enough Ichigo found himself dumped face down into the sand near a large set of hastily put up tents of some sort. A couple of lower adjuncas came toward him and Ichigo backed away from them. The first, the tusked Arrancar, kicked them away and grabbed Ichigo by the hair, dragging him back through the sand toward a tent. He gasped and kicked at the sand and told him to stop, but it didn’t help much as he was thrown down again.

“I’m not an Arrancar at all!” he gasped as he tried to get his head to stop spinning.

He tried to push up and at least attack this Arrancar, but he found that the Arrancar was straddling his hips, forcing his clothes off him, and biting at the back of his neck. For some reason, he couldn’t resist him. The second his teeth started touching his neck he was weaker than he had been. He sobbed out loud though, trying to put what was happening out of his head. Considering how much torment he’d been in just in his own mind, it didn’t help, and he screamed out loud when he slammed into him.

“Shut up, you are an Arrancar, beta bitch, you smell like one from miles away whether you know it or not,” the Arrancar growled and grabbed Ichigo by the back of his head and shoved his face into the sand. Unable to breathe, Ichigo’s resistance slowly lessened and just before he blacked out, he pulled him up by his hair. “You are this pack’s property, do you understand? And every one of us is going to claim you before the night is over, do you understand? And then, you’ll bear a kit to one of us, and then, it all starts again, understand?”

Ichigo could barely see, let alone answer. He was so dizzy that he didn’t know where one of them began and ended, he just wanted to hide, to run and get away from them. He couldn’t, though. He couldn’t even stand, let alone run. He coughed and spit sand after another one had tried to suffocate him in the sand when he cried out in pain. He had no idea how to get away. There were too many of them. But, when one of them was about to pin him down again, he felt a horribly heavy pulse of reiatsu.

The one over him gasped and pushed him to the ground and ran from the tent. There was no chance that he could stand up and run from whatever it was that just sent a relatively powerful Arrancar running. He gasped as he heard someone move near him and he tried to push away from them. But…they felt different…warm, even.

“No, stop, please…” he gasped as he felt someone grasp his face and turn it toward the creature that had come into the tent.

He vaguely recognized the face of one of the Espada. “Oh, my, you poor thing,” he whispered and brushed a hand over his head. “Come, let us get you cleaned up,” he said and swept him up into his arms.

Ichigo couldn’t think but as they came out of the tent, he saw several of the Arrancar lying dead outside it. He phased out for a long time, it seemed and then screamed when he felt something warm and wet.

“Hush, now,” came the deep, strong voice of the Arrancar that was still holding him. They were in some sort of warm spring. “Here, we need to clean you up,” he said and Ichigo clung to him desperately as he stepped down into the water with him. “There, now,” he said as he sat on a rock and pulled Ichigo to sit on his lap. He panted and looked up at him.

“What…who…” he whispered and looked at him.

“Coyote Starrk. I was the primera Espada. Now I am truly alone,” he said and used his hands to cup water and drip it over Ichigo’s face.

Ichigo was hot, though, but unlike the weird feeling before, this was incredibly uncomfortable and he just wanted to cool off. “Hot…why am I hot?” he asked as he let Starrk lay him back into the water.

“Ah, you are in a heat, what happens with beta hollows. Somehow, you have been altered to suit Hueco Mundo it seems,” he said as Ichigo started to squirm on his lap. “You need to find your mate,” Starrk said. “Then it will stop.”

“But they…they…”

“They were not your mate,” Starrk said with a smile as he spun him around to straddle his lap in the warm water. “I find it quite surprising myself to find my mate after so long,” he said as he leaned forward and began to bite gently at Ichigo’s neck.

Ichigo’s body nearly wilted in his arms. And he wanted to feel him, every part of him. “Ha…please…I…don’t understand…”

“It is fine, my love,” Starrk said as he shifted and Ichigo nearly yelped as he felt the primera slide his long, thick cock inside him in one smooth move. “I will make you feel better, for now and forever,” he said as he pulled Ichigo close to his chest and began slowly thrusting up into his body.

Ichigo arched backward and this time it felt right, like he was supposed to have his body filled like this, with his mate. He gasped as he felt like he was about to come apart from the incredible pleasure coursing through him. Moments later he screamed out as he came and at the same moment Starrk bit down into his neck. Reiatsu flashed around them and Ichigo felt the world blank out again, but this time, it wasn’t as bad. However, in unconsciousness, his nightmares of the hollow that brought him here began devouring him.


	2. The Actions of Animals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updates are going to be super slow over the next few weeks. I have to complete On the Training of Doctors by year end to hand over to be copy edited. I also have kids, and holidays. I'll update fics when I can, but please, understand that I have a lot going on right now, along with osteoarthritis in my right wrist and a diagnosis of fibromyalgia.

**Chapter Two**

**The Actions of Animals**

 

Waking up was difficult for Ichigo, and he was not sure that what happened the day before was real or in his head. But when his body was hit with an incredibly sharp pain as he tried to move, he came to the horrible conclusion that it was very real. He couldn’t think. Between the horror of being controlled for such a long time, every corner of his mind rifled through, and the disgust at being used so horribly by those Arrancar… His first reaction was to get to his hands and knees and vomit painfully into the sand. He felt hands on his shoulders and he screamed, scrambling back away from whoever it was. He turned eyes up on the wavering figure of an Arrancar he semi-recognized.

“Who…who are you?” he gasped, feeling a very strange desire to be near him.

“You do not remember what happened when I took you away from that pack?” he said and knelt near him.

“You…you did…you…why would you? Why would you do that to me? You…you knew what they did!” he gasped, horror dawning on him that the reason he wanted to be near him. He reached up and touched the fresh bite on his neck below what felt like a collar. He gasped and started pulling at it, whatever it was.

Starrk moved quickly, pulling his hands away from the bone fragment. “No, no, do not pull that, you’ll hurt yourself so badly, my love.”

“What is this?” he asked and looked at him with wide eyes.

“You are an Arrancar, it is your fragment, like mine,” he said and pointed to the jaw bone around his neck. “You cannot remove it without harming yourself.”

“I’m…I’m an Arrancar?” he gasped. “Why? How? I’m not…I’m a human!” he gasped as he stared at him.

Starrk looked at him with a confused expression. “I…you are the Shinigami that came with the others to Las Noches when we were trying to get the Oaken,” he said finally. “How are you an Arrancar?”

“I don’t know!” Ichigo screamed, yanking his hands out of Starrk’s.

“Hush, you will be safe here. You are my mate now,” he said with a nod.

“What does that even mean? You…how…” he said as he stumbled to his feet and looked around them.

They were on a high place in the sands that had a sheer cliff behind them. It had a hollowed cave which is where they had been before Ichigo had crawled outside of it. There was nothing as far as he could see. The eternal night pressed into him harshly.

“Come back,” Starrk said, and for some reason Ichigo couldn’t disobey him. He turned and stared at him.

“What…what is that…” he said as he moved toward the taller Arrancar.

“You are my beta. You cannot disobey me,” Starrk said as he stepped toward him.

“I…no. I’m not anyone’s ‘beta’ or anything, whatever the fuck that means!” he shouted but found his body submitting to him as Starrk’s hands ran down the outside of his arms.

“What is your name, _mi amor_?” he asked then, the same commanding tone to his voice. “I remember it vaguely, but it has been a long time.”

Ichigo swallowed and tried to still his tongue. “Ichigo Kurosaki…” he said finally as he let a loud sob wrench from his chest.

Starrk frowned deeply. “Ichigo, what do you weep for? I will not harm you. You are mine to protect,” Starrk said, reaching out and thumbing the tears off his cheeks. “It is the way of things. I have taken you from those that would hurt you, to make you my love. I am a wolf Arrancar; I mate once in my lifetime. I have chosen you.”

“You chose me? So I don’t get a chance to say what I want? I can’t say no? You can just…just…just take from me whatever you want like that? You control…me…I can’t…I can’t…” he gasped as he felt the world slide away and darkness descended on him once again.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

“What?” Renji said as he looked at Urahara. “When did all this happen? And why didn’t you tell us?” he asked, looking between Urahara and Isshin. Rukia wore a similar expression beside him.

“You told me to check for any foreign reiatsu around your house and the school where Ichigo was attending, you didn’t tell me that there was something so wrong with him!” Rukia exclaimed and glared at Isshin.

Isshin sighed. “I didn’t think of anything like this happening,” he said and looked away from them.

“After…after what happened to Kaien? You didn’t think a sudden change in his behavior was suspect?” she asked, truly horrified by the idea that it would have been ignored.

Urahara shook his head. “I thought…I thought I’d checked for every possible problem. I checked for every type of reiatsu I could think of. Whatever this thing was, it exuded no power of its own. It only used Ichigo’s power, so we could not detect it.”

“So he’s in Hueco Mundo?” she asked.

“Yes, but I have no idea…” Isshin started.

“It doesn’t matter, we’re going after him,” she said and turned on her heels and left with Renji close behind her. She paused. “We should see if Uryū, Chad, and Orihime are coming,” she said as she looked at him.

“Yeah, let’s do that.” Renji nodded as they took off together.

A few hours later, all five stood in front of a portal that lead to Hueco Mundo again. Urahara had nothing to say as they slipped into the space in between, not sure what they were going to find on the other side.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Starrk held his mate to his chest and wondered what had just happened. He should have been happy to have found a mate. Why was he not pleased with this? He’d been in a bad position with a large pack, and now he was only with him. He was very confused as he clutched him and ran his hand over his head. He was not sure what to do if he was unhappy. It was his job to care for him, to make sure he was happy and loved…but what did he mean by the words he’d said?

His head popped up as he sensed several heavy reiatsu signatures coming toward him quickly. He thought that they felt like Shinigami and something that felt vaguely hollow. He supposed he could get up and try to meet whatever it was. However, he honestly was far too comfortable where he was. He’d sat against the wall that was behind him and pulled his mate into his lap, tucking him in close to him, cradling his head.

He looked up with a yawn as two Shinigami and three others appeared at the ledge. He blinked and smiled lazily at them.

“Why do you come to Hueco Mundo?” he asked them.

They stood and stared at the sight before them. The Arrancar was sitting, legs spread wide with Ichigo positioned with his knees bent over one side and cradling his arm around Ichigo’s back on the other. He wore the tattered remains of the white uniforms that Aizen had used. Ichigo, though, was wearing a shihakuso again, but his body was marked with red lines down his cheeks, and black over his body, and there was a white collar around his neck. He was completely unconscious by the look.

“What…what did you do to him?” Renji asked, his grip tightening on his Zanpakutō.

Starrk looked between the red-haired Shinigami and the others. “What did I do? I rescued him from a pack of alphas that found him.”

“What? A pack of what?” Rukia asked.

Orihime moved forward then and knelt to throw her shield over Ichigo. She frowned and looked back at the others. “He’s…he’s an Arrancar,” she whispered.

“What?” Uryū said as he glanced at the others. “How’s that even possible? He wasn’t even a Shinigami anymore!”

Starrk looked at them. “How did he come to be in Hueco Mundo?”

The group looked between each other. “Something, some sort of parasitic hollow, it took control of him for a long time, and no one realized it until it opened a garganta and brought him here.”

Starrk frowned deeply for a second. “What did it do while it had control of him?”

“He stopped. He didn’t talk, he didn’t do anything…” Chad said with a tilt of his head toward him.

“He stopped…” Starrk repeated. “Oh, my poor love,” he said and kissed the top of his head. “I am so sorry for that, no wonder you were so very scared of me when you woke up…you did not even know why you were here…”

Rukia looked at him. “What…what happened?”

Starrk looked at him. “I heard and sensed a powerful beta’s cries for aid. Generally I do not attempt to answer such calls, as most betas have been simply destroyed by my mere presence. I found him being abused by a ruthless pack of alphas. There were several that that died when I entered the area, but those that didn’t, they ran from the area. I took him to clean him after their mistreatment, as they did not treat him as they should have,” Starrk said, running his hands through his hair again. “I answered his need. I thought…he would have been happy…but he was upset when he awoke a while ago,” he said, looking at him with very confounded eyes.

“What do you mean, answered his need?” Renji asked.

Starrk looked up. “As a powerful heating beta, he needed to be claimed by a worthy mate, those that had captured him were not near his power. It was only his weakened state from what had occurred in his world, and their numbers, that they were able to capture him. I wish I would have found him sooner, but his cries for help were what summoned me. I did not think it sounded right, like a human, not like a hollow, so I went to find out what had happened.”

“You seem to know something about what happened to him with the parasite hollow,” Uryū said, glancing at the others. Honestly, he didn’t want to think about what exactly this Arrancar meant when he said these things about the group of hollows.

Starrk nodded. “Yes, there is an old hollow, well, they are not one hollow, but more like a group of them. They are avoided by all in Hueco Mundo. They feed on hollow reishi. They assume control of a hollow and return to their nest, so that the whole could feed on it. The most attractive hollows are vasto lorde or Arrancar, of course. It is well known to avoid their area.”

Uryū looked at Rukia. “So one of those things got to him. And it fed on his power until it had enough to open a garganta. It took over six months for it to draw that much from him since it was drained by the final Mungetsu. When it got enough, it brought him here, but then what happened? Obviously it failed in returning to the hive…”

Rukia looked thoughtful. “Shiro.”

Renji looked at her and nodded. “He was a Vizard, he’s hollowified, so that’s probably why it attached to him, his energy is more hollow than the rest of us. But him even more so, with the power that thing has.”

Starrk nodded. “So he was a Shinigami with the power of a hollow like some of those in Karakura Town,” he said as he fondly stroked a hand over his head. “The Hive found him in his world, an easy target since he was currently powerless, oh, _pobrecito_ ,” he said. “I do not know what they do to their victims, they do not survive. But it would have wanted access to as much reishi and power as it could get to.”

Chad spoke up finally. “If it infected him, took over his body, perhaps it tried to get his power to return so it could feed on it.”

“Returning to Hueco Mundo might have jump started his power again,” Uryū said. “Made it easier…and if it tried to do that, and the hollow inside him resisted…”

“Shiro might have used all his power to save him,” Rukia concluded. “He turned him into an Arrancar, probably not purposefully, but he had to make him more hollow to save him…”

“What do we do now?” Renji asked.

Starrk looked between them. “I will care for him. You have no need to remain. He is mine to protect.”

Renji reacted before the others and swung Zabimaru toward the seated Arrancar’s head. “Like hell he’s staying here!”

Starrk yawned and lazily caught the end of the expanding sword easily in his hand. “You cannot separate him from me, he will die,” he said as he let go of the blade and blinked sleepily at him.

Renji glanced at Rukia because they’d both seen the one on the back of his hand when he caught Zabimaru’s blade. “You…you were the Primera. You died in Karakura Town,” Rukia said, recalling Ukitake’s report on him and his fraccion. “You fought Kyrouku-taichou. He killed you.”

Starrk stretched and shook his head. “Very nearly. Lilynette did perish, but I managed to escape. My sheer reiatsu kept the other hollows at bay while I healed. Her power returned to me when she was destroyed, though. I was so very lonely for a long time again,” he said with a deep sigh as he clutched Ichigo’s body to him tightly. “Until I found _mi amor_.”

Rukia and Renji exchanged a glance. “You…you can’t keep him here. He has a family in the World of the Living. His father, and his sisters. They’re already worried over him. He needs to return.”

Starrk looked up at her. “Oh, I suppose that may be why he might have been upset by awakening here…” He shifted, standing up easily from his seated position and nodded to them. “Yes, we should go to his world. There is nothing here for us save emptiness. If it will make _mi amor_ happy, I will take him there.”

Renji stared at him. “What will make him happy is to no longer be forced to be with you.”

Starrk’s face returned to confusion. “I do not understand. He should be pleased not to be forced under the rule of a pack, and to have a single alpha to counter his power. I believed that it would be for the best.”

Renji looked at Uryū for help explaining. He shook his head. “Look, we can deal with this at Urahara’s, and let Kurosaki-san talk to him. I…I think it would be better to get them out of Hueco Mundo, especially if this Hive hollow is here. It has gotten him once already, honestly, I’d like to get Ichigo away from it.”

Rukia nodded. “Yes, come, um, what is your name?” she asked Starrk.

“Coyote Starrk,” he said with a nod. “Here, we are going to Karakura Town, yes?” he asked.

Renji nodded. “Um, yeah, there’s…”

“I still recall the location,” he said as he flicked open the garganta with a yawn. “Come, we will see how to help _mi amor_.”

The group went through behind Starrk, leery still of his attitude, as well as the fact he had so easily avoided any harm by Renji’s sword. He also had refused to let go of Ichigo’s body, which made this their only choice. None of them noticed that there was a small path following them in the distance just before the garganta closed.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

The inner world was already flooding. Zangetsu sighed, standing on the end of the flagpole as he watched Ichigo completely come apart. Shiro was doing his best, but it was harder than even the hollow had anticipated. Zangetsu knew he would end up having to intervene before Ichigo was able to settle himself.

“Stop!” Shiro yelled as he zipped after him again. “You can’t just go running off cuz yer pissed off at me! I did what I had to do!”

“I don’t want to hear it!” Ichigo yelled as he tried to dodge the pursuing white version of himself. “I don’t want to know what your reason is! You…you turned me into an Arrancar! How could you do this to me?” he yelled, dodging away as Shiro tried to tackle him.

“I know yer mad, but dammit, you have to listen to me!” he growled as he nearly pinned Ichigo this time. “Fuck! Zangetsu, you old fucking bastard, help me!”

Zangetsu sighed, moving once and standing with his arms wrapped around Ichigo’s back, pinning his arms down. Shiro appeared in front of them. “Thanks, took you long enough.”

Zangetsu held Ichigo easily. “Speak if you wish me to hold him for you.”

“Let me go, dammit, ojiisan!” Ichigo yelled. “Just let me go…I’m…I’m free in here at least…”

Shiro closed his eyes and then stepped forward and grabbed Ichigo’s face. “Look, it was this or we were dead. Do you understand this?”

Ichigo looked at him, and it broke Shiro’s heart that he was crying. “No, I don’t…” he gasped finally.

Shiro leaned forward and touched his forehead to Ichigo’s. “Listen, that thing, it was controlling us. It was taking us to Hueco Mundo to the rest of them. It wasn’t one hollow, it was a drone that belonged to a hollow called the Hive. It’s been there forever, and it will live on after all else is gone. It…it wanted me, the hollow part of you, so it…it reached me and tried to wrench me free. If it had done it, I would have become the one in control, and the form you hate would have emerged. But under this thing’s control. So I had to…to bring the rest of your power with me. I had to grab your Shinigami core, and the rest, and pull it with me. The pain you felt, it was very real for both of us.” Shiro panted, with his forehead still resting against Ichigo’s. “But…the bridge between hollow and Shinigami is Arrancar. And I didn’t know it would happen, I just thought…it would be like before, the Vizard powers. But it wasn’t, because it had hold of me. So I became stronger than before, and it transformed you into this. I’m sorry. You…you have control, though…of the form, the vasto lorde form that I took, but it is your resurrecion. You need only call on me, and I’ll give it to you.”

“But…my…am I still a Shinigami?” Ichigo asked.

“No,” Shiro said with a sigh. “I’m…I’m sorry. This is what you are now. I can’t change you back. You are more Shinigami than any other Arrancar, though. You haven’t got a hollow hole, just the mark in your chest where it should be. You can still use your Bankai if you call Tensa Zangetsu, but if you call to me and say ‘Rise’ before my name, you’ll bring the resurrection.”

“I won’t. I’ll never,” he said, shaking his head. “I’ll never do that. I’m not an Arrancar!”

Shiro put his hands on either side of Ichigo’s face and lifted his face up. He leaned forward and placed a kiss on his lips. “I’m sorry. But you will call it. And sooner than you’d like, but it will be your power, our power, it is one now. I am forever your horse, King. That won’t change now.”

“And…and this Arrancar Starrk?” he said, eyes infinitely hurt.

“I’m sorry, I was so weak, I couldn’t suppress it anymore. I’ve always feared that we were a beta, it was something I have pushed away, kept down for as long as I’ve been with you. I didn’t want to know for sure, though I believe I always knew. I…when we transformed, it let loose a flood of hollow instincts and I couldn’t stop it. It took everything I had to just keep us from succumbing to that thing’s powers. I crushed it, but the Hive knows what I did, and it knows we exist. I guess, part of it is that I wanted us to be protected, and I couldn’t do it…to call forth an alpha to us would protect us.”

Ichigo looked at him. “He…he thinks I should be happy with him.”

“You should, if you were a regular Arrancar,” Shiro said sadly. He sat down on the building that was covered in about an inch of water already.

Zangetsu let go of Ichigo and stepped back. Ichigo sat down beside Shiro. “I don’t understand.”

Shiro shook his head. “Hollows have alphas and betas. Alphas are dominant, betas are submissive. Normally. Betas bear the young. Gender isn’t a thing here, you know. And the young, they’re not young in the sense of humans or Shinigami. It…the alpha answers the animal drives to procreate, in a futile attempt to fill the emptiness inside us. The alpha passes a soul, one of our many that comprise us, into the beta. The beta carries it, feeding it with its own reiatsu, until it becomes strong enough to exist independently, and it becomes a separate hollow, and the cycle continues. The alpha is supposed to protect the beta during the gestation time while the beta’s energy is diverted to the young.”

“I don’t want that.”

Shiro looked at him. “I’m so sorry, but I can’t stop it. It has already begun. He’s claimed you. You’re his mate, and he’ll take the next step soon, because if he doesn’t, we’ll go insane from the need to complete the cycle. Once…once the cycle is complete, I might…maybe…be able to do something, but right now, every bit of my energy has been pulled into the cycle of heating, claiming, knotting, and then birthing. Once it is done, if I can do something before the next one begins, I might be able to quell the urges.”

“Knotting?” Ichigo said.

Shiro smirked. “Um, you’ll find out soon enough,” he muttered. “You should enjoy it…a lot…” he said as he grinned at Ichigo.

“Oh, I’m gonna kill you, you hollow bastard,” he muttered and put his face in his hands.

“Yeah, you keep saying that,” Shiro said. “Look, I can’t stop this now, but I’m going to try to stop it when this cycle finishes, okay? To do so now…I don’t know if it will kill us. I just know that the hollow instincts are screaming at me not to interfere with the cycle.”

Ichigo looked at him. “I’m not going to just fucking lie down for him.”

“You can’t deny him,” Shiro said with a sad smile. “I know you don’t like being told what to do…”

“I will tear his face off if he…he…” Ichigo’s face paled. “I’m not doing that.”

“You will, no matter what you think,” Shiro said. “All he has to do is command you, and that’s it. You’ll do what he says. The reason is to protect the beta. The alpha takes control of the beta from the claiming until the birthing is done. Otherwise, the young would be in danger if the beta decided to run off from their alpha in their weakened state.”

Ichigo shook his head. “I’m not able to handle this, after…after what…” he closed his eyes. “That thing…what it did in my head…”

“I know. Tell him. Tell our alpha. Tell him the pain you’re in, tell him why, he will do anything to protect you, and if he’s a good alpha, he’ll do anything to please you as well.”

“Even leaving me alone?” Ichigo whispered.

“Well, as much as he can, the knotting has to happen. And it can’t be much longer until it does happen.”

Ichigo groaned, falling backward onto the building then feeling a strange sensation, almost like he was being pulled from his inner world. “What is that…?”

“He’s commanding you to wake up. You need to go. I’ll be here, I promise, Ichigo,” Shiro said as the world faded out.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Starrk stepped out of the garganta near a building with a blond man standing in front of it. He recognized him as one of those that had been in Karakura Town when he had been there before. He did not recall his name. Rukia rushed forward and got between him and Urahara who had already drawn Benehime.

“Wait, Urahara…we need to go downstairs, now,” she said with a nod back toward where Ichigo was clutched in Starrk’s arms still.

Urahara nodded and led them downstairs into the basement area. Starrk simply used his sonido to skip even taking the ladder down and waited for the others. Urahara moved up and tilted Ichigo’s head to the side.

“He…he’s an Arrancar,” he said quietly and looked back to the others. “What happened?”

“We’re not sure what caused that, but we found him with…” Renji started.

“Primera Espada. Starrk, I believe,” Urahara said.

“Yes, might I have a place to allow him to rest comfortably? While I do not mind holding him, it might be best for him to lay down completely for a bit,” Starrk said seriously as he looked between them.

Urahara nodded, coming back with one of his inventions, a tent that set up with the press of a button. He let it come up and then handed a blanket over to Starrk. He nodded and took both the blanket and Ichigo into the tent. He returned a moment later to stand outside. “He is still sleeping, perhaps things have been more taxing than I have anticipated to him.”

“What is happening?” Urahara asked as he glanced at the others. “I called Isshin already to come, but why are you with Ichigo?”

Starrk glanced at the others. “I told them; I rescued him from an alpha pack that found him after the Hive brought him to Hueco Mundo,” he said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Urahara looked up to Isshin come down into the basement. “Isshin,” Urahara said. “I do not know if you recall Aizen’s Primera, Coyote Starrk.”

“I do,” he said with a narrowed glance at the Arrancar. “Why are you here with my son?”

“Your son, I see,” Starrk said with a nod. “Then I give you more consideration than I might allow others in regards to him.”

Isshin glanced at the others standing to the side. “What does that mean?” he said as he looked back to Starrk.

“I have claimed him; he is mine to protect from whatever attempts to harm him. It is my duty and position as his alpha,” Starrk said and yawned. “I tire, I should rest with him.”

“Wait, what do you mean he is yours?” Isshin said. “And you claimed him?”

Starrk tilted his head to the side. “He is a beta Arrancar, of course I claimed him. The pack that had captured him was well below his power. Even together, their power could not overcome his reiatsu. That is why they could not claim him, but I am far more powerful than most Arrancar.”

“I don’t understand,” Isshin said as he looked back to Urahara.

Urahara shook his head. “I’m not sure at all, but I think to get rid of the parasitic hollow, he underwent a transformation. He has a mask fragment, and his body is marked, but he has no hollow hole, just a mark in the center of his chest.”

“I need to see to my son,” Isshin said and stepped forward.

When Isshin stepped closer, the pulse of reiatsu nearly staggered everyone except Isshin and Urahara. “He is to rest; when it is time, I will waken him from it.”

Isshin looked at Urahara. “If you do not let me see to my son, I will make sure you are cut down where you stand.”

“If you do that, your son will die. He has not completed the cycle, and to interrupt it by destroying his mate would destroy him,” Starrk said, heaving a yawn and stretching his arms over his head for a second. “I have only claimed him; the rest has not yet occurred. He was not strong enough to finish when I claimed him. The mark will fade if I do not complete the knotting, and if it does, he will draw hollows to him like a magnet.”

Isshin looked back at Urahara. “Is this true?”

Urahara shook his head. “I don’t know yet, I…I’ll have to test these things. I can’t…even understand how this happened. We need to talk to Ichigo, though. We have no idea what this parasitic hollow did to him.”

“Hive,” Uryū said as he looked at Urahara. “Starrk knows of it. It is a hive minded hollow grouping. It takes over strong hollows and returns to the hive so they can devour the reishi together.”

Starrk nodded. “I will waken him if you wish. He was not in a very good mood when he woke up earlier, however.”

“I wonder why,” Renji muttered under his breath.

Starrk ignored it and went into the small tent and knelt beside him. “Ah, _mi amor,_ come, wake up for me,” he commanded, sending the instruction through their binding.

After a few minutes Ichigo’s eyes fluttered and he looked up into Starrk’s face. Starrk smiled at him. “Ah, _mi amor_ , please, now that you are awake again…”

Starrk didn’t expect his beta to be so very unruly, of course. Ichigo’s face twisted and he punched up into Starrk’s face hard and scrambled out of the tent, falling to his knees when he got a few feet away panting at the lancing pain in his head. He looked up to see his father was kneeling in front of him.

“Ah…Pop,” he gasped. “Hi…” he said as he sat back on his heels for a second. His head snapped around when Starrk stepped out, wiping his bloodied mouth. “You!” he yelled and stood and turned toward him. “You! Get away from me!” he screamed and tried to take off again.

“Stop,” Starrk said and Ichigo stopped and fell to his knees as Starrk walked to him and knelt down in front of him. “Why do you still believe I will harm you?” he asked simply.

Ichigo stared at him. “Why wouldn’t I, you bastard! You did the same fucking thing! You didn’t give me a choice either!”

“I have never encountered a beta that does not submit to their alpha before,” Starrk said, truly confused.

“I am not going to submit to anyone,” Ichigo growled. “Least of all you!”

Starrk looked over Ichigo’s shoulder where the others were standing, seemingly unsurprised by his actions. He reached up and scratched the area under his mask. “But…you are bound to me now. You have no choice in whether you submit or not. I can command you; you have seen this. Why do you resist me still?” he asked, slightly hurt by this fact.

Ichigo stared at him for a moment open mouthed. “You…how can you…why? Why? You just…just took me off and do this and I didn’t even know what the hell you were doing!”

“I saved you from those other alphas that would have killed you before they were able to claim you,” Starrk said and was still very confused by the whole situation. He had never heard of anything like this. “You should not be so…strong willed or belligerent any longer...”

“You stupid Arrancar!” he screamed at him and punched him again, knocking Starrk back slightly. He blinked at him owlishly for a moment. “I have been an Arrancar for less than a day! I am not going to act like you want! So just leave me the hell alone! I’m not doing this! I’m not letting you do that thing, and I’m damned sure not going to carry your stupid young!”

“How do you know of this all, then?” Starrk asked.

“Shiro told me what was going on, that the Hive thing was trying to take me back to the nest. He said it tried to pull him up, the hollow part of me, and when it did, Shiro grabbed onto my other powers and pulled them free as well. When he did that, he turned me into an Arrancar out of necessity…and he was weak, and he…he said he was afraid we were a beta, and he kept pushing it away, down, ever since he awoke. But destroying the Hive creature, he couldn’t stop it. The instincts came flooding, the heat…it began and he…he…then they found me there…”

Ichigo’s eyes had gone wide with the memories. “It had taken everything, ripped through every memory, pulled and clawed and ripped through my soul…it got so mad when I tried to get their attention, when I cut myself,” he said as he glanced at his forearm where the jagged scar had remained. “It was so mad…it just ripped everything open, unending, and I screamed but no one heard me, and…”

Starrk put a hand against his face. “I…I did not understand. I do not, still. I only know what I am and always have been. I will do whatever I must to make you happy. I told you; I have one mate in my existence, even if you do not wish me, it is so. The cycle must complete, but…if you wish it to be so, I will leave you when it is done, and perhaps your friends can aid you in removing the necessity to submit to the cycle or return you to being human again.”

Ichigo stared at him, and he didn’t think he was lying. “You’ll just leave; just like that.”

Starrk nodded. “I could command anything from you, _mi amor_. But I will not. I had always known before now, when I took a mate for the rest of my life that it would be someone that I felt needed me as much as I needed them. I planned no coercion, and I regret that it was perceived as such during the claiming. I would never have taken from you what you did not wish to give had I known that you were unable to choose in that moment. So for that reason, I will not bind you to our union, it would be unfair of me to do so.” Starrk smiled at him and put his other hand to his face. “But until the cycle completes, I ask that you allow me…a chance to show you that I am worthy of you.”

Ichigo swallowed and had no idea what to do.

_It is the best we’re fucking going to get. He could take your ass easily back to Hueco Mundo right now, fuck you into oblivion again and again, and you couldn’t stop him. He could beat the living hell out of you and we can’t resist, you gotta know, we can’t push him. We can’t push him, King. If we do…we’re slaves to him for the rest of our existence just like any other beta._

Ichigo nodded. “Alright. But…if you fucking even touch me without my permission, I’m going to take off your damned hands while you sleep.”

Starrk nodded. “Of course, _mi amor_ , of course.”


End file.
